In the Apple vs. Samsung damages retrial, attorneys for each side offered their respective closing pitches to the jurors, one of which caused Samsung to call for a mistrial, as a decision is close at hand. During the recent proceedings, Apple counsel Harold McElhinny used his allotted 90 minutes to restate evidence presented over the week-long retrial where Apple is seeking $380 million in vacated damages. In opposition, Samsung attorney William Price continued to state Apple exaggerated the importance of the five patents-in-suit.

Of the proceedings, of particular interest was a request to call a mistrial over a portion of McElhinny’s closing arguments. According to CNET, the Apple lawyer said US television manufacturers went belly-up because they didn’t adequately protect their patents. Samsung took this as playing a nationalistic/racial card, which it claims has no place in the case. McElhinny said the following regarding the matter:

Our economy will disappear. If the cost of breaking the law is a small fine [...] Samsung's copying will have proven successful.

After hearing the repeated requests for a mistrial, presiding US District Court Judge Lucy Koh denied the motion. She did instruct the jurors to disregard where Apple and Samsung are based though. Race and other comments that could negatively skew the arguments were also told to be disregarded. Koh mentioned the following regarding the matter:

I don't think what occurred rises to the level of a mistrial, but some remedy might be appropriate to avoid further issues later on.

According to additional in-court reports from Reuters, Apple counsel Bill Lee hammered Samsung over its inability to produce senior executives for testimony, saying the jury should instead be guided by the Korean company’s internal documents. The papers when presented by Apple point to an informed change in smartphone design and operation when the iPhone was first debuted. Lee said the following regarding the matter:

Witnesses forget, or in the case of Samsung here, witnesses don't appear.

Price stated the company is willing to pay a penalty for the infringed patents but noted that it should not be made to overcompensate for design flourishes that any manufacturer should be able to incorporate in their products. He mentioned the following:

Apple doesn't own beautiful and sexy. What they're saying is, in the market, justice is just us.

The case involves 13 Samsung products found to be in infringement of five Apple patents and will soon be decided as the retrial jury is scheduled to begin deliberations. We’ll have to wait and see what decision they reach.

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